Voyage into the Unknown
by HarryNamarr
Summary: When doing his job leaves him stranded, Harry Namarr finds himself lost in a new galaxy with his damaged ship. Will he find his way back home? More importantly, can he survive in this new galaxy alone?
1. Chapter 1

-Chapter 1-

In a rather secluded solar system, a corporation is found investigating a newly formed wormhole within the system. However, the entire corporation isn't investigating as a whole, rather, there is only one ship orbiting the new entity. Harry looked at the controls and the displays that gave him valuable information about his ship and the wormhole that loomed over him. It wasn't his first time traveling through a wormhole but somehow this time made him seem a little nervous. _That's the thing about wormholes,_ he thought, _You never know whats on the other side... until its too late._

Their galaxy was full of these wormholes, and because of the uncertainty as to where they all may lead, all 4 empires of the New Eden galaxy have branded the wormholes as dangerous and should be avoided at all cost. However, a few corporations decided to take the risk and set up modulated stations within the wormholes. These corporations reaped the benefits of the wormholes and made millions in funds. But one system only accessible through wormholes is not entirely isolated. Almost every system, that is in whats called "wormhole space", is at some point connected to another system in wormhole space, and sometimes the wormholes lead back to systems within New Eden. This is a security risk for the corporations as it allows one corporation to invade another corporation's space, or allow pirates to enter the wormhole systems and plunder the corporations. And since the wormhole systems haven't been well developed like the high security systems in New Eden, those that invade can do as they please, including the destruction of a station. With this in mind, Harry's corporation has taken steps to reduce the danger of invasion by finding, and then investigating what was on the other side of a wormhole that connected to their system. If there was a threat that the corporation couldn't handle themselves, they would perform mass jumps, cramming their largest ship to the brim with material, and seal the wormhole. This was Harry's job, he was about to jump through a wormhole they had found, and reveal what was hidden on the other side.

Harry heard chatter over the communication systems. "Normandy SR9, you are clear to enter the wormhole; good luck out there."

Harry's ship is one of many that he owned. For this job, flying a scouting frigate would have been suffice. The frigate was smaller and more agile. It could get in and out of the other wormhole system very quickly and if events turn for the worst, the frigate was equipped with an advanced cloaking device to remain hidden for an indefinite amount of time and a probe launcher to safely find another way out of the wormhole system. The same can't be said about the Normandy, but Harry felt that she hasn't been flown as much as he'd like to and decided to take her out for a spin once again. Besides, the frigate isn't the only ship he owned that had a probe launcher. The Normandy is an Arbitrator class cruiser, put into mass production by the Amarr Empire. She was a long and slender V-shaped star-ship, with curves in all the right places. The Amarr people have always favored strong, highly resistant armor defenses that glimmer with colors of polished gold and tan, but with a lot of armor strapped to their warships they are known to have some of the slowest warships in the New Eden galaxy. But their weakness in mobility is covered by their offensive abilities of pulse and beam weaponry, which are effective at range and minimize the need to move quickly. The Normandy inherited the defensive trait of the Amarr people but not the offensive trait. She is unique in the fact that she can field a flight of 5 light or medium scout drones and use them very effectively. These drones are tiny ship-like robots that are equipped with their own engines, turrets, and defenses. They are not autonomous though, they merely do what the commanding vessel tells them to do. The Normandy's on-board computers give her pilot more control over these drones and improve the defensive and offensive subsystems. Her computers also increase the effectiveness of Tracking Disruptors, the Amarr Empires' form of electronic warfare. With Tracking Disruptors, the Normandy can inhibit the tracking speed and optimal range of any star-ship that utilizes turreted weaponry. Although she is slow and cumber-sum, she is very capable of neutralizing a threat, or can hold together long enough for her pilot to engineer a way to escape, and that's what Harry loved about the Normandy.

Harry heard more chatter over the communication systems, "Normandy SR9, did you receive our message?"

The entire time he was sitting in front of the wormhole he was waiting for his corporation to approve of his travel. While he was waiting he got lost in his thoughts... daydreaming if you will. Harry responded, "Thank you control, I should see you in about 5 minutes." The task was routine enough and he had done it several times over. He would go through the wormhole and scan the system for an established communications buoy. If one could not be found, he would launch probes and begin searching for a station. Sometimes he found remains of stations overrun by another corporation different from it's own. These remains gave a grim reminder of what might happen if he didn't do his job. If Harry found an active station, he would then jump back through the wormhole and present his findings, to which his corporation would begin to seal the wormhole shut should they deem the wormhole system to be a threat. Harry engaged his ship's thrusters, moving his ship forward toward the wormhole, and waited to be sucked in.

Slowly his ship picked up speed. He could only obtain 150 m/s, but considering how much armor he slapped onto the hull of his ship, going 150 m/s was a luxury. Then Harry noticed that the ship was now traveling at 200 m/s. He once was able to get his ship to go that fast, but that was before he put on the armor. Then the Normandy started to double her speed, going 400, 800, 1600 m/s. Harry knew something was wrong, but he could only hope that his ship would be able to hold together as he hurtled into the wormhole.

The ship rocked and pitched hard from side to side. Harry felt like he was riding a bull. The ship's motion dampener's on the bridge did their best to reduce the rocking, but the ship was swaying so violently that Harry had difficulty staying on his feet. Quickly, Harry strapped himself to the captain's chair. He didn't like strapping himself in, but he did so anyway. _At least I'll be able to maintain control of the ship here, _he thought. But even after he was strapped in, Harry was struggling to try to maintain control. Harry knew that if he didn't maintain control of his ship's flight trajectory, the ship could be thrown sideways and ripped to pieces, regardless of how much armor the ship had. He saw several flashes of white light. _Lightning?... in a wormhole?, _he thought, _that's unusual._ The ship's computers were displaying warning signs and damage reports from the ships capacitor. _I'll have to look at that later; right now I need to keep this ship flying straight! _From what he could see on the monitors, the lightning took out the ship's shields. He couldn't care less about the shields, for his ship's primary defense was it's armor, and the armor was very, very thick. He heard the hull rattle as it tried to withstand the forces applied to it. _Come on baby... Hold together_, Harry thought. Finally after what seemed to be an eternity, the ship began to decelerate, dropping back down to 150 m/s, as he shot out the other side of the wormhole. _Well that was one hell of a ride_, he thought as he regained his bearings. After unstrapping himself from the chair, Harry checked the systems on the ship. The majority of the systems on the ship were still functional, but the shields and the capacitor regeneration systems were off-line. _This'll have to do, _he thought,_ I'll run a full diagnostic check once I get back to HQ._ As usual, Harry began searching for a communication buoy. After the results showed that there wasn't a com buoy to be found, Harry launched the probes in his ship's cargo-hold and began searching for a station.

He found one, and it was active.

_Right... now to head back and report my findings_, he thought. There was only one flaw with his plan. The wormhole that brought him here, was no longer there.


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

_Damn_, he thought, still gazing at where the wormhole used to be. _Could have sworn that this wormhole was freshly formed, it should have lasted 24 hours before it collapsed. Did my corporation members seal it shut while I was still here?_ Harry checked his ship's log, searching for any ships that may have come behind him that the Normandy's sensors would've picked up. The logs didn't show any other ship coming through the wormhole. In fact, the wormhole collapsed as soon as he exited it. _Well at least I wasn't betrayed_, he thought. _Right... so __where__ am I?_ Harry checked the ship's navigation system and pulled up a map of New Eden. The ship's navigational computer took a while to search for where the current location of the ship would be. The results were quite shocking. The navigational computer couldn't locate the ship's current position in New Eden. _Must be trapped in another wormhole system,_ Harry thought. His thought was proven wrong as the navigational computer whistled and worked a little bit longer to pull up a map of an entirely different galaxy, with a small, blinking, green indicator pinpointing their exact location.

Harry read about this particular galaxy in history books, the Milky Way galaxy. Several thousand years ago, this galaxy was completely colonized by man-kind. Overpopulated, and quickly running out of resources, man-kind was saved by a wormhole that they would call the "Eve Gate". Scouts went through the Eve Gate and found hundreds of new planets to colonize. The few that went through to colonize the new worlds were the great grand-fathers of New Eden shortly after the wormhole collapsed and separated the colonists from their home galaxy. As Harry looked at the new map the navigational computer was showing, he realized that this was the same galaxy that he read about in history books! Several thousand years after the Eve Gate collapsed on the colonists, and he happened to find the one wormhole that brought him back to their origins! But one question came to mind. _If the history books were correct and this galaxy was overpopulated... why is there only 1 station? Surely there would be hundreds of stations._ He checked the results from the probes he launched, and they showed there was only 1 station in this system.

_Perhaps I ended up in a dead-end system_, Harry thought. If he remembered correctly, a solar system that didn't have much to offer would have a singular outpost station. Maybe the station his probes picked up was an outpost station. _I'm not going anywhere any time soon_, he thought, _I might as well check out this outpost station and see if there is anything useful there. Maybe I can repair the capacitor regeneration unit there._ Without the capacitor regeneration unit the Normandy's capacitor will dry up quickly if he ever got into a firefight. Fortunately the propulsion and defensive systems won't draw a lot of capacitor power and he had spare capacitor booster charges in the ship's cargo-hold. But Harry didn't like the idea of eventually running out of power, especially since the distance between the Normandy and the outpost station was long enough for the ship's warp drive to eat up a good chunk of the available capacitor power. The Normandy's warp drive can carry the ship out to a distance of 172 AU before the capacitor would run dry and force the ship out of warp. The outpost station was about a quarter of that distance away. Making his decision, Harry bookmarked the location of the, now collapsed, wormhole and spun up the warp drive. The ship's Artificial Electronic Assistant (AEA), named Aura, passed the coordinates to the ship's navigational computer and began to align the Normandy in the direction of the outpost station. Once fully aligned and the warp drive was spun up, Aura activated the warp drive. Harry heard "Warp Drive Active" from Aura and watched as the Normandy slowly accelerated to 3 AU/s and shot into the stars.

Harry could have done all of what Aura did himself, if he strapped himself into the green capsule that was given to him after he completed capsuleer training. But he didn't like to use the capsule. Not because it was dangerous. As long as there was a station, he could fill the capsule up with pod goo and safely use the capsule to control the Normandy with his mind. Which is what capsuleer training was for, a capsuleer who has completed training can easily interface with any ship he or she flew and be able to fly the ship single-handed. The only difference between whether a ship was controlled by a capsule or not was reaction time. A capsuleer driven ship can react to outside stimuli much faster than a ship with a full crew. It is almost as if the ship was a second body for the capsuleer. But the destruction of the controlled ship can be traumatizing as the capsuleer's mental control is yanked from the ship and put back into the capsule as it ejects from the exploding hull. Harry shuddered at the thought of having to experience that again, which is why he preferred to control the Normandy SR9 though the bridge, not the capsule.

The Normandy SR9 began to decelerate as the ship reached the location of the outpost station. Aura verbally announced the amount of capacitor fluid used and that the Capacitor Regeneration Unit was non-functional as a warning. Knowing this, Harry dismissed the warning. What was more interesting for him was the outpost station itself, or lack of one. All Harry could see from the bridge was a dense, light purple nebula that the Normandy warped into. The navigational computer did state that the Normandy reached her destination, but Harry failed to visually locate the station. The sensors did indicate that there was a massive structure about 20 kilometers forward though. _Looks like we just need to get a little closer_, Harry thought as he engaged the ship's thrusters again, accelerating the ship to a maximum velocity of 165 m/s. _This will take a while_, Harry thought. Normally, Harry would have activated the afterburner that he equipped on the Normandy, but since he was currently limited on the amount of capacitor fluid he could use he forewent activating the afterburner to conserve precious capacitor fluid. He did not have to wait long though, as the dense nebula cleared up to reveal an open pocket within, which was home to the outpost station.

Harry was awestruck. He has seen large structures before, although the stations in New Eden were much larger than the structure he was witnessing now, but the size of the structure wasn't what amazed him. The station resembled something like a purple flower, with 5 long, massive metal arms as petals that connected to a circular metallic base. The station seemed to rotate at the base, probably to replicate gravity. There was a glow coming from behind the station as well that shown through the circular base of the station. Harry would have figured this to be a star but sensors didn't detect any gravitational forces coming from the "star". What could that have been then? Other ships were docking and un-docking with the station, and the station was bristling with life. The sight was magnificent.

His trance was cut short with warning signals coming up on the monitors indicating that the Normandy SR9 was locked on by other ships and was being scanned. Aura announced that communication frequencies were being directed towards the Normandy SR9.

"Where is the signal coming from Aura?", Harry asked.

"Communication frequencies are broadcasting from the station, Pilot".

Nodding in acceptance, Harry responded to Aura, "Well lets hear what they have to say".

"Right Away", acknowledged Aura as she translated the frequencies and sent them to the bridges' speakers.

"Unknown Vessel, this is Citadel Control. You have entered Citadel space and are approaching the station. Decelerate or we will be forced to open fire. We will broadcast this message on all frequencies until you respond, or until we deem you as too close to the Citadel".


	3. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

For once Harry was glad he didn't use the Afterburner. Quickly, Harry rushed to the controls and cut off the ship's thrusters, forcing the Normandy SR9 to coast to a halt. In response, Aura utilized the ship's maneuvering thrusters to assist in the deceleration of the ship. The Normandy slowly came to a halt in front of a fleet of similar looking vessels, which have moved into what looked like attacking positions in the event the unknown vessel didn't stop. Harry analyzed the situation at hand. There were about 6 look-alike star-ships facing the Normandy SR9 with the addition of another vessel that easily doubled in size, the one that looked like a large cross.

"Aura, can you isolate one of the communication frequencies being sent to us?" asked Harry, "I would like to open a channel to this... Citadel."

"Analyzing frequencies... Complete. The frequency that is most commonly used between these vessels and the station has been locked to this ship's communication system." replied Aura.

"Thank you Aura. While I speak with the Citadel can you do a scan on all the ships that are in close proximity to the Normandy? I need to know which vessel can potentially be the largest threat. We may need to bug out if the conversation turns for the worst." Harry stated.

"... Without a ship scanner module, I cannot accurately scan the targeted vessels for offensive and defensive capabilities." informed Aura.

_That's right_, Harry thought, _This isn't my frigate. _Slightly annoyed, Harry responded, "Very well, just be ready to lock onto and tracking disrupt that cross-shaped vessel in the back. I have a bad feeling about that ship."

"Yes Pilot." acknowledged Aura.

Straightening his olive green uniform and quickly grooming his hair, Harry tried to make himself presentable. A good first impression is what he needed right now with these people. Although he believed his ship had enough armor to withstand a few strong hits, he had no idea what type of damage these vessels could dish out. More importantly, this was the only station in this system that his probes found, and that made it currently the only place for him to perform any kind of repairs to the Normandy SR9's Capacitor Regeneration Unit and, perhaps later on, her shield generator. Harry doesn't need to add his ship's armor on that list of things to repair, especially since he didn't have a spare armor repair module in the cargohold. Him playing nice at this moment, with the type of situation he was in, made sense. After he felt like he was ready, Harry opened a communication channel with the Citadel.

He certainly wasn't prepared for what came up on one of his monitors. On his monitor, Harry could see the face of what looked like an insect. The face had two small, black, piercing eyes that stared at Harry through the monitor. The face had a boney forehead and eyebrow plates, a notched, flat, boney nose with spacing between the notches that contracted and expanded as the being spoke, and two long, boney mandibles reaching from what would have been the hinges of a human jaw-bone down to the corners of a mouth. The being's upper and lower lips were upside-down and right-side-up V's respectively that were flexible, but still boney. In fact, everything about the face except the eyes, sharp teeth, and the evident face paint was boney. The face was also thin and narrow, somewhat similar to a horse. The sight startled Harry but he kept his composure as he began to speak.

"This is Harry Namarr... Pilot of the Arbitrator Class cruiser called the Normandy SR9. We have received your message and decelerated the ship to a halt in correspondence to your warning. To whom am I speaking to?" stated Harry.

Although he was the only living soul on the ship, he still used the term "we" instead of "I"... he can't take all the credit for flying the Normandy.

The boney face spoke from the monitor, "You are speaking to Togris Ornnal, Captain of the Turian cruiser Narool. Who is your captain pilot?"

After a slight pause, "I am, Captain Ornnal. I'm the only one on this ship." responded Harry.

From what he gleaned so far, the face belonged to a Turian, who potentially lead the fleet of look-alike vessels sitting in front of the Normandy SR9. Harry was troubled by the fact that his comm channel connected to one of these ships instead of the Citadel itself. It was probably for added security, he was a complete unknown, after-all.

"A single human commanding a cruiser without a crew... I don't buy it." grumbled the Turian Captain. "Wheres the crew?! Are you holding them hostage? Did you steal that ship!" the Turian aggressively questioned.

"Captain if you run a biological scan on my ship, you'll find that I'm the only body on this ship... Besides, aren't you more worried that you cannot identify the Normandy SR9?" responded Harry, coolly.

"Other than your recent statements, no we cannot identify your ship. And the fact that a human is commanding it is troubling."

Was that a hint of racism he sensed?

Dismissing that comment, Harry responded, "Look, I don't intend to cause any trouble and my ship is damaged. Plus with 6 vessels plus that one large... dreadnought?... in the back against one cruiser, why would I pick a fight? I am merely asking for permission to dock with the Citadel so that I can attempt to make repairs to this ship. Now are you going to help me, or should I look somewhere else?"

Harry was taking a risk, a rather large one in fact, considering he had nowhere else to go if he was denied to dock here. Behind his back, Harry had his fingers crossed.

The Turian captain gritted his teeth, or what looked like gritting of teeth. Letting an unknown vessel roam through the galaxy was dangerous, especially since the Turian didn't know what this... Normandy SR9... was capable of doing, or if the ship had a weak spot to hammer. The ship was completely alien to him, that was for certain. What was strange though was the pilot, who was politely asking to dock with the Citadel after he stated that the ship was damaged. Could the pilot be lying? What if this vessel housed hundreds of Geth? His conscience told him that couldn't be possible. After the battle for the Citadel there have been rare sightings of Geth beyond the Veil, not after the council sent Commander Shepard to mop up the rest of the synthetic bastards. If this pilot was deceitful, he couldn't see it. He didn't like it, but the Turian made his decision.

"Wait here. Don't attempt to leave or we will open fire on your damaged ship. Are we clear,.. human?" menacingly asked the Turian captain.

Harry uncrossed his fingers and straightened up, "Crystal, Captain." His eyes never left the Turian's as he terminated the comm channel. "Aura, whatever you do, don't lock onto anything unless they open fire." commanded Harry.

"Understood,... Captain." responded Aura.

Sometimes Harry wondered if Aura was developing a personality of her own.

"Why have you called an emergency meeting on this matter?" questioned the Asari Councilor, "Its just one ship."

Upon the urging of the Turian ambassador, who was in turn urged by Togris, the Turian Councilor called for an emergency meeting with the other council members to discuss what to do with the unknown vessel that showed up in Citadel Space. The Turian ambassador was very concerned over the matter, and that was enough to make the Turian councilor worried. From what he had learned from the ambassador, there was a ship resting about 13 kilometers from the citadel that was of an unknown origin. Captain Ornnal could not identify the vessel as a possible Geth warship sheerly because scans of the vessel indicated that the ship was without barrier emitters, did not have any form of mass effect fields around it, and was shining in polished gold and tan colors. The Turian councilor scowled at that last bit of intel. _Just because it doesn't look like a geth doesn't mean it couldn't be one_, he thought to himself. What made the ambassador more nervous was that the pilot claims that his vessel is damaged and has requested to dock with the Citadel to attempt repairs. The pilot also threatened to look elsewhere if he was denied permission to dock. Besides the pilot's spoken intentions of not causing trouble, the Turian councilor still didn't trust him. But as a Turian, he is always expecting the worst out of every possible situation. And the worst thing that could happen with having this unknown vessel dock with the Citadel would be that civilians on the station might become injured should the pilot become hostile. But the worst thing that could happen if the pilot was denied docking permission would be an unknown vessel, which couldn't be tracked down at the moment, wandering through the galaxy and potentially harming innocents. The Turian councilor couldn't decide on which was the best course of action, hence why he called the other council members to this emergency meeting.

"Yes its just one ship... but its a ship we have no knowledge about. We don't even know how to take the damn thing down should it become hostile." The Turian councilor stressed, "But we can't just let it roam through the galaxy unchecked."

"I know you are concerned about the safety of the civilians on the station, but from the limited intel that was provided the best course of action would be to allow the ship to dock." reassured the Asari councilor.

"Besides," piped the Salarian councilor, "We can learn a great deal about the ship if we let it dock. After we have collected as much intel about the ship as possible, we can then make a decision on whether the vessel is a threat or not."

"Thats if the pilot would allow us to study the ship," the Turian councilor cut in, "We don't know anything about the pilot other than his intent on not causing trouble, which he could be lying about. The humans are new to the galactic community. Although we can trust Commander Shepard who has always been honest with us, even when he terminated his calls early, he doesn't represent all of humanity. Just look at Harken, that screw up at C-sec." the councilor pointed out.

"You are correct in that the humans are quite diverse creatures..." noted the Salarian councilor.

"Which is irrelevant." interrupted the Asari councilor, "Humanity has done a great service to us at the Battle of the Citadel by giving their lives to save ours. We should be grateful to their sacrifice, and so should you."

"I know, but I don't trust this human pilot." countered the Turian councilor.

"Look at the bigger picture," pointed out the Asari councilor, "It's safer to allow this ship to dock than it is to let it go unchecked. Lets welcome this pilot to the Citadel."

After a long pause, the Turian councilor agreed with the other councilors. "Alright, but throw this human into the brig until we are certain he isn't a threat to the public."

Dismayed, the Asari and Salarian councilors reluctantly agreed.

After what seemed like eons of waiting, Harry was considering leaving when Aura notified him of a call coming from Captain Ornnal's ship.

"Put him through Aura." said Harry.

"At once." responded Aura.

Once again the insect face showed up on one of his monitors. "You have been granted permission to dock with the Citadel, human. We will be escorting you to the docking hangers. On a further note, your ship is grounded until we can deem your ship as non-lethal." Captain Ornnal decided to leave out the bit about throwing the human into the brig... he probably wouldn't take it well.

_Ha! Grounded my ass!_ Thought Harry as he tried to hide the smirk. The corners of his mouth twitched as a result. Hopefully the Turian didn't see that. "Very well", responded Harry, "I will oblige. And thank you for permitting my ship to dock."

"Just don't cause any trouble human and we won't break your legs." stated the Turian as he ended the call.

_Well he's a particularly cheery bunch._ Thought Harry, _Even makes the Minmatar look civilized. _

The six Turian cruisers maneuvered to surround the Normandy SR9 to escort her to the Citadel to dock, with one in the front, one in the rear, and two on the port and starboard of the ship. They then began to move forward towards the Citadel. The cross-shaped dreadnought didn't budge though, which made Harry a little nervous. Regardless, Harry engaged the Normandy's thrusters to match the speed of the Turian cruisers as they escorted her to the Citadel. The 3 cruisers in the front went a little too fast and were forced to slow down to match the Normandy SR9's speed. The cruiser at the rear almost collided with her as well. Harry got another call from Captain Ornnal as a response.

"Doesn't your ship move any faster human?" question Togris.

"I'm sorry Captain but this is as fast as she goes." responded Harry, excluding the fact he had an Afterburner that he could've enabled.

"You're about as slow as a damn Elcor." grumbled Togris, "Enjoy the view while you can... human." He stated as he ended the call again.

_Elcor?_ Harry thought, _Whats an elcor?... and why did he say "While you can"_.

In all honesty, Harry was thankful for being able to dock, and that his bluff worked out in the end.


	4. Chapter 4

Author Notes: Forgive me. A day after posting this chapter I realized more content could be added. The chapter seemed too short. Regardless, I hope the readers will enjoy the added content.

On a further note, A few reviewers have been questioning why Harry is being treated roughly. Consider, what would you do if a stranger approached you and you felt threatened by his/her presence? The authoritative figures on the Citadel are acting to keep the civilians aboard safe from harm. They are un-aware of Harry's intentions and are assuming hostility. Better safe than sorry. That is all I have to say.

* * *

-Chapter 4-

Perhaps he should have acted on his bluff. With blurred vision and a throbbing headache, Harry awoke lying down at an angle. _What exactly happened after the Normandy SR9 docked?_, he thought. He remembered instructing Aura to lock down the ship once he left to prevent thievery. He also remembered giving full control of the ship to Aura if the local populace attempted to force their way into the ship, upon which she will undock from the Citadel and fly the Normandy SR9 to a safe distance away from the Citadel. If the intruders were dumb enough to continue to force their way in, he gave Aura the ability to vent the atmosphere from the drone bay. Since the ship didn't have a docking tube, He told Captain Togris that a form of shuttle would be needed to board his ship at the gaping maw at the bow of the ship, which was the drone bay. He couldn't remember much after he met the boarding party on the deck of the drone bay. _Right,_ Harry thought, _I need to find a way out of this room and back to the Normandy SR9_. He tried to get up, but Harry found that his wrists and ankles were constrained to a table that he lied upon. "The hell?", he verbally thought. He tried to break the metal bands with his industrialist strength, but was unable to break himself free. Once his vision improved, he observed the room he was in.

There was a panel to his left that had a small, red holographic display in front of it. Perhaps that was a door. The floor around his table was clear and barren, there weren't other tables or chairs to be found. The counters behind him were bare as well, but he wondered what was in the cupboards. In front of him, he saw a glass panel that revealed people being processed through what looked like a scanner. They must be immigrants or new-comers to this station. If that was the case, Harry was surely not far from the hanger bay that held his ship..., unless Aura felt that the ship needed to undock. He hoped that the latter wasn't true, and he also wondered if the immigrants could see him. His musings were interrupted when he heard the panel to his left whisk open. Harry turned his head to see who was on the other side of the door.

"Oh good you're awake." The other spoke in a feminine voice as she walked forward, "We can begin right away."

"And you are?" questioned Harry.

"First lets find out who you are, and why you are here." spoke the other, as she halted in front of Harry and turned to face him.

"What, Captain Togris didn't tell you who I am?", asked Harry.

"No, he didn't." bluntly spoke the other, "That SOB has never trusted humans, and you are avoiding the question."

After a slight pause, Harry responded, "Very well. My name is Harry Namarr, I do not seek the holy grail, and my favorite color is blue."

The woman angrily leaned toward Harry. "This isn't a game Harry, you are a complete unknown to us and you think its wise to crack jokes."

"Just lightening the mood ma'am." spoke Harry, coolly.

The woman defused her anger and pulled herself away from Harry. "What is it you seek then?" the woman asked.

"Well I'd like to know how I got here," Harry quickly answered, "as well as your name, Miss...?"

The woman thought for a moment, _probably listening to her ear-piece in her left ear,_ Harry thought to himself, _Also if she doesn't reveal her name I'll have to come up with one._

"My name is not important right now, I'm afraid..." the woman responded, coolly.

"Susan then." interrupted Harry, "So, Miss Susan, as far as I remember I met a boarding party on my ship, and then I woke up here. Am I missing any details?" Harry questioned, although he knew he was missing a good chunk of detail.

"We were given orders to arrest you Mr. Namarr. So once we boarded your ship to greet you, you refused to come into custody, and we had to... persuade you... to come with us." Susan answered.

Harry reached up to rub the back of his head, but the constraints reminded him he couldn't use his limbs. Harry resorted to rubbing his head on the table he was tied to, which wasn't the same. "So I was knocked out to make it easier for you people to drag me into custody." Harry answered for himself. After a brief pause he asked, "Who are you people?!"

"We are the law enforcement on this station." Susan snapped back, "Do you remember the red and blue flashers on our cars?"

"No,"Harry grudgingly responded, "You must've knocked that bit of memory out of me. Was anyone hurt?"

Relaxing a bit, Susan answered, "No one was hurt when we knocked you out. Your robotic toys activated though and watched us as we left. I would be lying if none of us were a bit frightened."

"Good... for no one getting hurt." Harry clarified. _Aura must've been watching me through the drones' cameras. I'll have to thank her later for not firing on the police._ Harry stored the mental note.

"You still haven't told me why you are here." pressed Susan.

Harry chuckled, "I'm just passing by."

Leering at Harry, "I'm sure you are." Susan responded, not taking his bullshit.

Suddenly Harry was very serious. "I'm sure you know that I'm not from around here." Harry spoke with a straight face, eyes locked onto Susan's. "The job given to me by my corporation had me scout out solar systems at the ends of wormholes we have found. This particular wormhole we found landed me here, and collapsed behind me as soon as I exited the wormhole. The travel through the wormhole wasn't as smooth as other wormholes we've found, and as a result my ship was damaged. Using scanning probes, I found this station and came here to attempt to make repairs. And now I'm here, against my will."

"You are here because we aren't sure if you'll be a threat to civilians!" snapped Susan, "And if it wasn't for your mysterious ship and the metal holes in your back, I would have a hard time believing your story."

Relaxing a bit, Harry responded, "Oh these?" as he leaned as far right as the constraints would allow him, revealing the outlines of 2 metal sockets in his back. There were more hidden underneath his uniform for connecting to the capsule in his ship. Lying back down, Harry continued to speak, "Thats another story, one thats irrelevant."

Susan had a frightened look on her face as she leaned onto the glass panel and crossed her arms. "Tentacles aren't going to sprout out of those holes are they?" Susan questioned.

Harry laughed, "So now you're the one making jokes. And no, how these work is actually quite the opposite."

"It wasn't a joke." reminded Susan, "Anyway, you seem human enough, and it looks like you won't be doing any harm to civilians. If I could decide your fate I'd say you were free to go."

"So, am I free to go?" questioned Harry with a curious look on his face.

Tilting her head slightly to the right at the question, Susan pulled herself from the glass panel, unfolded her arms, and kept her right arm raised. A molten orange tubular hologram with a circular holographic section around her hand lit up around her arm as she tapped away at it. Moments later, the constraints on Harry's wrists and ankles were removed and Harry began to rub his wrists.

"You are free from that table, but not from this room. You will have to fill out a questionnaire so we can complete a psych profile on you. I don't suppose you have an omni-tool on you, do you?" Susan questioned as she waved her right arm in the air.

Harry just gave Susan a smug look and tilted his head to the right.

"Very well, someone else will be here to hand you a datapad. If you have any questions I'm sure she will be happy to answer them. Just don't be surprised that she's blue, and doesn't have hair like we do."

"Wait... what?" questioned Harry, puzzled.

The panel whisked open again as Susan approached it. "And my name is not Susan, its Natasha." barked Natasha as the panel whisked shut behind her.

Harry chuckled a little. _So that was her name_, He thought. He also was chuckling at the thought of potentially meeting a smurf.

About 5 minutes have passed, and just as Natasha had warned a woman in blue strode into Harry's interrogation room, with a small glass panel in hand. She looked human, but Harry couldn't get past the blue skin, and small tentacles that wrapped around her skull that replaced what would have been hair for a human. And she certainly wasn't a smurf in regards to size. It wasn't long before Harry caught himself staring at the woman's forehead, and he averted his eyes to break the trance.

Remembering his manners, Harry made eye contact and extended his hand to greet her with a handshake, saying, "You must be the woman Natasha spoke of. I am Harry Namarr. And you are?"

The woman looked at his hand, then returned her gaze to Harry's eyes and placed the small glass panel in his hand before speaking. "Mr. Namarr? I am Chief Tereesa. Here is a data-pad that contains the questionnaire you need to fill out. I'm sorry we had to lock you up, but we had orders from the council to act to ensure the safety of the civilians here, and that included knocking you out. How are you feeling?" she questioned.

_Well at least she's more polite, _Harry thought, taking the data-pad. "I'm doing well, all things considered. Just some minor head throbbing but its nothing serious." Harry looked at the data-pad and thought to himself, _This must be a touch-pad,_ As he tested the device by poking it. His thought was proven correct when the device emitted a chime in response. After that, he began filling out the questionnaire. "I'm just glad that I could dock here. The old girl could use a rest after what has transpired." Remembering the instructions he gave to Aura, Harry pulled his eyes from the data-pad and looked at Tereesa. "She's still here isn't she?" Harry questioned.

Tereesa returned a soft expression, "Since you are a Human I assume you must be talking about your ship. Of course its still here. We just sent a team over to secure the ship for study. Why would you think otherwise?" She asked with a curious look on her face.

_Uh oh_. Harry thought, then spoke. "You may want to call them off."

"Why?" Tereesa questioned.

"Unless you want to see that ship do a magic trick, you need to call off your team." Harry spoke with serious concern as he stopped filling out the questionnaire.

"Your jokes are unwarranted Mr. Namarr. What are you suggesting?" Tereesa pressured.

With a raised tone in his voice, Harry responded, "I'm suggesting that you call off your team!" His eyes were intently focusing on Tereesa's, desperately hoping that she would take the hint. He didn't want to be responsible for deaths that could have been easily avoided.

Tereesa paused as she analyzed Harry's face, wondering if he was bluffing. The majority of the Human criminals she interrogated in her past frequently lied about their crimes to try to avoid jail time. As a result, her senses have become quite accurate on whether the perpetrator was bluffing or not. At this moment though, her senses told her Harry was not bluffing, and that something bad was about to happen.

Taking the hint, Tereesa committed two fingers to the ear-piece in her left ear. "Hey HQ? Whats the status on the team we sent to secure the new ship?" There was a long pause. Harry could see Tereesa becoming more concerned as she received the report, pacing back and forth. Suddenly, she stopped as a mixture of shock and fear erupted on her face as she quickly spoke, "Send teams alpha and charlie over there now! I'm on my way as well." She pulled her fingers from the ear-piece and reached back behind her back. Suddenly Harry noticed the data-pad being pulled from his grasp as he was getting hand-cuffed. Tereesa spoke soon after, "You are coming with me!"

"What do you expect me to do?!" Harry rebutted.

"You tell me, Magic Man!" Tereesa responded as she hustled Harry out of the interrogation room and through a corridor that lead to one of the many hanger bays on the Citadel. Harry soon figured out what was happening and didn't fight back as he began dashing toward the hanger bay as well.

They made haste to where the Normandy SR9 was docked, but they were too late. Upon arrival Harry, Tereesa, and a handful of other Officers watched as the ship pulled away from the hanger bay. The ship rotated to her right once she had room to maneuver and accelerated away with the security team aboard, and her gold plating glistened as she flew out of view. _If only I could remotely override Aura's actions, _Harry thought, as he watched in awe. Once the Normandy SR9 was out of view, one by one, Tereesa and the other Officers turned their heads upon Harry with looks of anger and disapointment.

_Well... shit_, was all Harry could think.


	5. Chapter 5

Author Notes: Finally I finished this chapter. College work was interfering and I apologize for that. This is the longest chapter so far. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

-Chapter 5-

"How the hell did that ship undock on it's own!?" demanded Tereesa, with an angry tone in her voice.

"She was defending herself," softly spoke Harry, "What was the initial team sent to do anyway? I need specifics."

"In your case, its classified!" retorted Tereesa.

After a long pause, Harry spoke with a smirk on his face, "I hope your team packed a lunch. They should be fine as long as they don't do anything stupid." As he turned to walk away, hands still tied behind his back.

Tereesa's scowl deepened at that last comment. "And what would be considered 'stupid'?"

_Might as well tell them what I did_, Harry thought as he turned back around and spoke. "Before meeting the boarding party, I gave Aura full control of the Normandy SR9. In the event that someone tried to steal my ship, or board it without authorization,... well... you saw what happened." Harry nodded his head in the direction of where the Normandy SR9 used to be.

"Who's Aura? And weren't you the only one on that ship when you came here?" Tereesa questioned.

Harry hesitated a little. He wasn't sure if he wanted to reveal this information, but lives were at stake so his hand was forced.

"Aura is an Artificial Intelligence built to.."

"You have an AI aboard that ship?!" Tereesa interrupted with shock in her voice.

"... Why yes," Harry responded, taken aback. "Don't you have them?"

"(sigh) We did... well by we I mean the Quarians. They created a race of synthetic machines called the Geth. They were to be used for labor but revolted against their creators, who were then exiled from their home world. Because of their mistake, the Council has banned AI research all-together. You should read up on our history." informed Tereesa.

"I just got here remember?" Harry was annoyed, "Anyway, Aura is an AI built to help pilots control their starships. Look there isn't much time if your team keeps trying to get into the Normandy SR9. I need to get back to my ship. Can we use one of those shuttles you used for the boarding party?" he questioned franticly.

"Those shuttles aren't space-worthy..." responded Tereesa  
"And who put you in charge!" interrupted an officer. The question was directed at Harry.

"... Part of the security procedure included granting Aura the ability to vent the drone bay. You know... that room with the robots. But thats only if your team persists to force their way into the Normandy SR9. Hopefully they noticed that the ship took off with them aboard." spoke Harry, grudgingly. "Look, I'm trying to save your team. Will you help me... just this once?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later Harry found himself in the brig of the Turian Cruiser Narool with his hands still cuffed behind his back. _By 'help' I didn't mean this. Besides why am I still cuffed? What am I gonna do? Pushups?_ Harry mentally complained, _Curl-ups will have to suffice._ The brig itself was nothing more than a small room with a bench and a one-way mirror with a reinforced door to the left of that mirror. The bench itself was a little tall and Harry found his feet dangling as he sat on the bench, resting after doing about 150 curl-ups. At least the law enforcement on the Citadel, known as CSec, didn't knock Harry out to bring him here. He was escorted from the hanger bay that once housed the Normandy SR9 to the hanger bay that temporarily held the Turian Cruiser. The Council felt it was safer to move Harry to the Narool where Captain Ornaal can keep an eye on him as they attempted to recapture the Normandy SR9. Harry wasn't sure why the Council chose this course of action, but he didn't complain. At least the Council was helping him get his ship back.

The door to his cell opened and a Turian guard stepped through with what looked like an assault rifle in his hands. "The Captain would like to see you on the bridge. I wouldn't keep him waiting," spoke the guard.

Hopping down from the bench, Harry moved toward the door and responded, "I wouldn't either. Lets go."

Harry and the guard stepped out of the cell and were greeted by three more guards. From there, the four Turian guards escorted Harry from the brig to the bridge with two guards up front and two behind Harry. Harry felt a little crowded, the Turian guards were a few inches taller than he was, which didn't help remove the feeling that they were like vultures watching over him. He set that feeling aside as they traversed through the corridors of the ship. Harry got a lot of looks from other Turian crew members as they passed by him and the guards, making him feel more like an outsider. He was hoping not a lot of people would know who Harry was, but he guessed that news traveled fast around the Citadel. At one point He and the guards passed by an athletic center with numerous fighting rings installed. A few of those rings were occupied with combating Turian crew members. _No wonder these guys are aggressive_, Harry thought as they passed by. Eventually the escort reached the bridge and Harry was admitted into the bridge, where he was brought to Captain Ornaal, as ordered.

Standing at attention, the Turian guard reported, "Sir, the prisoner has been brought to the bridge as ordered, Sir."

Captain Ornaal glanced at the Turian guard and responded, "Thank you, you and the escort are dismissed." The turian escort saluted the Captain and left the bridge. Togris' eye caught a Turian crew member starring at Harry and his full attention was on the crew member. "I would keep your eyes on that Information Panel rookie!" Togris barked, and the rookie quickly turned his attention back to his job and never looked back. Togris then turned his attention to Harry. "I'm not going to lie to you human, ever since I saw your ship I wanted to blow that thing out of the sky. But the Council wants to study your vessel and persuaded me to bring you along on this … re-capture … mission."

"Captain, Our sensors have located the Normandy SR9. The ship is hiding in the nebula about 20 km starboard. What are your orders?" reported and questioned a crew member.

Continuing his speech, Togris spoke, "And since you know your ship better then we do I am in the unfortunate position of asking for your help. How do we recapture this thing? What can we expect from your AI?"

"First off... can I get these cuffs off my wrists?" questioned Harry, almost half pleading. Togris just stared at him and refused to answer. "Alright... Was worth a shot anyway."

Harry began to think as Togris issued a full stop order to his pilot and issued a standby order throughout the cruiser. _If Aura behaves like the countless Rogue Drones I've destroyed back home, recapturing my ship shouldn't be a problem. I'll just have to watch for Aura to do basically what every Rogue Drone would do. But this time, there will be tracking … disruption_. Harry had an idea. He looked Togris in the eye and hashed out his plan. "We need to grab Aura's attention. This cruiser has mounted turrets right? I need you to open fire on the Normandy SR9. Your attack shouldn't break her tank... at least I hope it won't... and it will get her to engage us in combat. I'll need a shuttle to transport me over to my ship while you continue to fire on her. Depending on how good of a shuttle pilot you send with me, this battle should be over quickly, and I will fly the Normandy SR9 back to the Citadel to please the Council." Harry then stood there and waited for the Captain's response.

"You actually want me to gun your ship down?" Togris asked, confused.

"Yeah... You get a little of what you want, I get my ship back, and the Council gets to study my ship. Everybody's happy... as long as this plan works out in our favor."

After a long pause, "I like it," Togris responded, "but how do I know you won't disappear when you get back aboard your ship?"

"I really can't, not in her current state. The Normandy SR9 will run out of gas if I try to run." Harry answered, not bringing up the fact that he has capacitor booster charges in the cargo-hold.

"Very well." The captain nodded his head as he turned his attention to his crew members. "Private! Unshackle this human and get him a shuttle and a damn good pilot. Gunners, lock onto the Normandy SR9 and align our turrets to the vessel. Be ready to fire one salvo on my order!" As the chorus of 'Yes Sir' resounded the bridge, Togris turned his attention back to Harry, who was once again rubbing his wrists. "Your plan better work, Mr. Namarr."

_Finally he uses my name_, Harry thought. "We will have to see, Captain Ornaal."

As the gunners confirmed that the turrets were aligned to the Normandy SR9, Captain Ornaal gave the order to fire. Only 2 of the 6 gunners reported a hit. In response to being locked upon, Aura locked onto the Turian Cruiser and immediately began to tracking disrupt it. When the turrets fired, Aura engaged the Afterburner and set the Normandy SR9 on an intercept course with the Turian Cruiser with a new velocity of 498 m/s. The Arbitrator Cruiser emerged from the nebula and performed evasive maneuvers as she closed in on the Narool, but being a slow and cumber-sum Amarr cruiser, there wasn't much Aura could do in terms of agility and took some more hits from the Turian Cruiser in the process. Back on the bridge of the Narool, Harry was being escorted to the shuttle bay when he overheard one of the officers reporting that their turret's tracking ability has been hindered. _Thats my girl_, he thought, but he didn't overhear the report of the new velocity of the vessel, or the report that the Normandy SR9 was now in an intercept trajectory with the Narool. "RED ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS" sounded Captain Ornaal over the intercom. Then the lights along the corridor began to flicker as systems across the ship were shutting down with the exception of life-support. _Thats not good_, Harry thought as he turned to his escort, "We gotta move, NOW!" As they dashed down the corridors, Harry tried to figure out what Aura was doing. He did not anticipate that Aura would use the ship's energy neutralizers, but thinking about it now, she may be attempting to disable the Narool's turrets by killing the ship's 'capacitor'. Although the neutralizers were having an effect on the Narool, they were also draining whatever capacitor fluid was left in the Normandy SR9's capacitor, running the risk of shutting down her systems in the process. This included shutting down her defensive systems and tracking disruptor, not to mention the energy neutralizers as well, and without those the Normandy SR9 was more vulnerable to the Narool's turret fire. This was an unexpected turn of events for Harry, and he refused to allow his ship to be destroyed along with the Csec team that boarded her. Eventually, Harry and his escort made it to the shuttle bay. Harry wasted no time jumping into the waiting shuttle and barked at the pilot, "We don't have much time, go... now!" The turian pilot just looked at Harry, "You aren't authorized to give me orders." Annoyed, Harry barked, "JUST DO IT! Both ships are in danger of destruction!" That was convincing enough to the pilot as he moved the shuttle out of the shuttle-bay and gunned for the Normandy SR9.

"How are we getting into your ship again?" questioned the shuttle pilot.  
"You see that gaping maw at the bow of the ship? Gun for it! Thats where the Csec team is. From there I can get back to the bridge and re-take control of the Normandy SR9." responded Harry, confident in his words. "Once we land, get the Csec team out of here and back to the Narool. There's no telling if Aura will vent the drone-bay once she realizes we're here."  
"What about you?" questioned the shuttle pilot.  
"... I haven't thought that far yet. Don't worry about me though, just get the Csec team out of here."  
"You're the boss. You may want to strap yourself in though." stated the shuttle pilot.

Harry strapped himself into one of the seat's harnesses in the shuttle as the shuttle pilot gunned for the Normandy SR9's drone-bay. The pilot attempted to compensate for the Normandy's orbital trajectory around the Narool and almost collided into the cruiser. The shuttle rushed into the drone-bay, slammed it's belly onto the deck, and came to a skidding, spiraling halt. The shuttle came very close to colliding with the Csec team, halting only a few inches away from them. Dazed, Harry unstrapped himself from his seat as the shuttle pilot pulled himself out of the cockpit. One of the shuttle's side doors opened as Harry and the shuttle pilot rushed out to relocate the Csec team onto the shuttle.

"What the hell is going on?!" demanded one of the officers in the team.  
"No time to explain. The atmosphere here may be vented soon. We need to get you into the shuttle. No questions, just go!" ordered Harry. The threat of atmospheric venting was enough for the Csec team to hustle themselves onto the shuttle.

As Harry helped move the team onto the shuttle, he noticed that his 5 Tech II Hammerhead class medium drones were missing, and he had a pretty good idea of where they were. As the shuttle's side door closed, alarms went off in the drone-bay, warning that the atmospheric venting procedure has begun. Harry bolted towards the door at the back of the drone-bay as fast as his legs could carry him. With seconds left, Harry reached the door, but it wouldn't open. He quickly punched in an override code into the door's console on the right and forced the door open. The heavy door slowly rolled upward and once there was enough room, Harry slid under the door, gathered himself at the console on this side of the door, typed in the lock-down code for the door, and held onto something. The forcefield at the bow of the ship disintegrated before the door was fully shut and the air in Harry's corridor rushed through the gap between the door and the floor. The air was rushing out with such force that Harry almost lost his grip. Determined to stay in the corridor, Harry gripped to the wall as tight as he could. Seconds passed, and the door finally shut itself. Realizing this, Harry let go of the wall and fell to the floor, exhausted. Harry pulled himself from the floor though. The Narool was still being attacked and he needed to stop it. Hobbling, he eventually made it to the bridge and bypassed the lock on the door before entering. At the controls, Harry attempted to disengaged the Normandy SR9 from the Narool.

"Access to bridge controls have been locked out in accordance to anti-piracy procedures issued by... Pilot Harry Namarr." stated Aura.  
"Dammit Aura, I'm right here!" angrily spoke Harry.  
"Voice recognition temporarily disabled. The service will be re-enabled when intruders have left the ship. Intruders... Please proceed to the nearest air-lock for immediate expulsion." responded Aura  
_Guess I'm considered an Intruder as well... we'll see about that_, thought Harry, as he left the bridge and headed to the pod room.

* * *

Thankfully, the door to the pod room was on a separate network than what Aura was permitted to use. Otherwise, Harry wouldn't be able to get in. The lock was keyed to his hand-print, ensuring that only he could enter the room. Inside the circular room was the sage green, egg shaped capsule with a small engine behind. In case of an emergency and the pod needed to eject, the pod would be able to traverse the stars with a capsuleer inside. Encircling the capsule was a drainage grate to capture a liquid known as pod goo once the capsule opened up. The pod goo was essential to minimizing the risk of a given capsuleer from going into mind lock. Mind lock was, and still is, a terrible condition in which the pilot is aware of his surroundings, but is unable to move his/her body, a ghost in a shell if you will. The pod goo eliminated any stimuli that could affect the pilot's body as he/she piloted the vessel with his/her mind by suspending the body in the nutrient rich liquid. A small canister would hold the liquid and the body as the pilot was controlling the ship. And since Harry didn't particularly enjoy using the pod, he installed the grate to enable him to reuse the pod goo whenever he wasn't docked in a station. Its not the most sanitary way to enter and exit a capsule, but it permitted Harry to not be trapped in the capsule doing his job and allowed him to use the capsule in dire situations. The situation currently at hand is dire enough for him to use the capsule.

Once inside, half of the capsule split into three sections and opened up to reveal the canister full of pod goo inside. While Harry stripped down to his undergarments, the canister extended from the capsule and dumped the pod goo into the drainage grate below. Afterward, a harness with cables lowered from inside the canister to a level where Harry could strap himself in. Reaching for the harness, Harry connected the various cables into the sockets in his back. Once fully connected, the harness hoisted Harry into the canister, and the canister retracted back into the capsule with Harry inside. As the flaps began to close the canister began to fill with the pod goo captured by the drainage grate. Harry coughed and sputtered as his lungs switched over from pulling oxygen from the air, to pulling oxygen from the pod goo. And as he fell into darkness, Harry let go of his physical form, and waited for the capsule to resume control of the Normandy SR9.

Ones and Zeros... Data... Information Streams... A-lot of information streams. Harry awoke with a flood of data rushing through his mind. He awoke with a sense of still being in his body, but it wasn't his body, it was the body of the Normandy SR9. He did not feel his skin, but instead he felt the cool armor that covered his ship. He did not taste the saliva in his mouth, but instead he tasted the capacitor fluid in the ship's capacitor..., what was left of it anyway. And he did not see with his two eyes, but with the sensors on the ship. He did however hear something, and that was the voice of Aura.

"I'm sorry pilot. I had to be sure it was you." coolly spoke Aura.  
"You do realize how much I hate being in this pod Aura." sneered Harry.  
"Well, you are the only person who can manually pilot the Normandy SR9 in this galaxy. And there-in lied the test." responded Aura.  
"You're clever I'll give you that."  
"Why thank you pilot." responded Aura, pleased with Harry's complement.  
"You did well while I was gone, but let me have the ropes for a minute." commanded Harry.  
"As you wish." answered Aura, releasing her control of the Normandy SR9.

Harry began to disengage the Normandy SR9 from the Narool but shutting down the energy neutralizers. He kept the tracking disrupter fixed onto the Narool to keep the Normandy safe until he contacted Captain Ornaal. Harry then used the additional speed the afterburner granted him to pull away from the Narool until he was out of the Narool's turret range. During this process Harry loaded a capacitor booster charge into the capacitor booster module and activated it to replenish a large portion of capacitor fluid in his capacitor. With his mouth feeling moist, he shut down the afterburner and focused on the data streams that connected his engaging drones to the Normandy SR9. _Come to papa_, Harry thought, and the drones willingly obliged to his command. After the drones were docked in the drone bay to resume their slumber, Harry made a call to the Narool.

"I assume since your toys stopped firing on us that you regained control of your ship?" questioned Togris, half panting.

"You are correct Captain. Whats the status of your ship?"

"We've taken heavy damage since your bots ripped right through our shields. We're receiving reports of hull breaches across the ship and we have some casualties." responded Togris. Afterward he called out a cease-fire to his gunners.

"Can your ship hold together long enough to make it back to the Citadel?"

"Our engineers tell me that if we don't put a lot of stress on the superstructure, we should make it back in one piece."

"That is good to hear captain, and I am deeply sorry for your losses." spoke Harry, cursing under his breath for the death's he's caused. "Has your shuttle pilot returned to the Narool?"

"No the shuttle hasn't returned yet. For all we know it's still on your ship."

"Oh really?... Hang on a moment." Harry called the shuttle, which was still in the drone bay. "I thought I told you to get out of here."

"Yeah... about that. See, our beautiful landing has fried a few systems. Without those systems I can't fly the shuttle." responded the shuttle pilot.

"So why haven't you fixed them?"

"Because to get to them I need to get outside..." the shuttle pilot lingered that phrase, hoping Harry would pick up the hint.

Harry exhaled, and gave the drone-bay new air. "The atmosphere in the drone bay has been restored. Don't worry about my drones. They'll stay asleep until you poke them." That last bit was a lie... but it did provide the people in his drone-bay incentive to not touch his stuff.

Harry resumed his call to Togris, "Your shuttle is still in my drone-bay. Some of the systems were fried and needed replacing. It should return to the Narool soon, with the Csec team aboard."

"Understood Mr. Namarr. And why are you only using a channel instead of a video feed?" Togris questioned.

"I had to take manual control of the Normandy SR9... It's a long story. Anyway, Thank you for helping me retrieve my ship. I couldn't have done it without your help."

"Thank the council, not me." grumbled the turian captain. "And while you take your fancy ass ship back to the Citadel, could you escort us as well?"

"I would love to Captain." answered Harry, as he turned his attention back to Aura, ending the call with Togris. "Hey Aura, Thanks for not shooting the police."

"They were law enforcement?" questioned Aura with shock in her voice, "They're too nice."

"I suppose they aren't like CONCORD." joked Harry, as he steered his ship to head back to the Citadel, keeping in close proximity with the Narool.

During the journey Harry compiled a damage report to read later when he was out of the capsule. He also noticed that the Narool was now flying slower than the Normandy SR9. He sent a message over to Captain Ornaal in response.

'Who's the elcor now?'


	6. Chapter 6

_-_Chapter 6-

Once the Normandy SR9 was docked with the Citadel again, Harry began the process of releasing his physical body from the capsule. He no longer needed to control the Normandy with his mind and therefore didn't find relevance in staying in the capsule. One thing is for sure though, being dropped onto a metal grate while getting re-acquainted with your physical body isn't such a great feeling, but its a nice wake-up call and a reminder to Harry that he is now in his organic body. After groaning from the pain in his knees and shins, Harry dressed himself and headed back to the bridge to read the damage report he saved earlier.

His plan worked... more or less. However he didn't account for the sluggish nature of his ship and as a result, holes were punched into the Normandy SR9's armor but didn't penetrate, luckily. The damage report indicated that the incoming damage were kinetic blasts, blasts that were similar to the damage inflicted by rail-guns. Harry made a note of the type of damage inflicted to his ship. While it wasn't explosive damage, which was his ship's weakness, the armor's resistance to kinetic damage was still kinda low. The on-board tracking disruptor did the best it could do against the Narool's turrets, but some of those turrets were still able to track the Normandy SR9's movements. As a result, the armor was reduced to 87% effectiveness. Compared to the damage inflicted to the Narool however, this wasn't all that bad. The last time he saw the Narool, there were multiple fires spewing from the hull of the ship, and one of her engines went offline, crippling her mobility. The Narool did however safely dock with the Citadel and repair work would likely start. _Speaking of which_, Harry thought to himself, _how am I going to repair my armor?_ _I can't just have a chat with Scotty the Docking Manager and have the damage repaired. Besides, I doubt that isk-_

His musings were cut short with an incoming call from Captain Ornaal. Harry put the call up on one of his monitors and began speaking with the Turian. "Ah, Captain. How are the repairs coming?"

"The Narool should be fully operational again in a few days. Fortunately the damage to the superstructure wasn't too extensive," gratefully replied Togris, but his eyebrow plates furrowed soon after, "You didn't tell me that your ship was capable of interfering with our Mass Effect Core, Harry."

Nodding his head from side to side, Harry confessed, "To be completely honest I didn't think Aura would go that far to protect the Normandy SR9, or that the energy neutralizers would affect your core."

"Well whatever that is, it disrupted our ship's systems due to lack of power." Grunted Togris.

"Really?... Interesting." Responded Harry, he was rather amused with the results.

"But thats not what I called you for. The council would like to speak with you about this recent event. If I were you, I wouldn't keep them waiting." reported the Turian.

"So I get a trophy or something?" questioned Harry.

His eyebrow plates deeply furrowed, "I wouldn't count on it." And with that, Togris ended the call.

Harry let out a heavy sigh, _I just went out of my way to save these C-sec officials, and they still don't trust me... What am I to do with these people._ Closing the damage report, Harry spoke aloud to Aura, "Alright Aura, lock up the ship again, but this time don't leave without me."

"Yes Pilot" responded Aura, "I'll use the drones to toy with the intruders."

Harry gave a stern look at one of the bridge's security cameras, "We don't need any blood shed Aura."

"As you wish. It would've be highly amusing though."

Harry had to ask directions from a VI called Avina in order to get to the Human Ambassador. From there, He was greeted by Ambassador Anderson. Anderson was a black middle-aged gentleman, probably in his 40's. He looked good in a suit and stood with authority and integrity, a trait found in commanding officers and fleet commanders back home. But he didn't have the look of a drill sergeant,and it seemed like everyone was on the same level as him in his mind.

"You caused quite a stir you know... coming here with that ship of yours caused political unrest, and made my job that much harder. I've also heard you were stuck with a rough crowd." Anderson relaxed and extended his hand, "How are you doing, son?"

Harry was taken a-back by the greeting. It seemed too personal for this tastes, but he wasn't rude and shook Anderson's hand. "I am alright, all things considered Ambassador." After releasing his grasp, he spoke, "And I apologize for the commotion that my arrival has stirred up."

Anderson shook his head, "Don't worry about it. It's nothing I can't handle. Although there are times that I wish that Shepard recommended Udina for the job."

"Who?" Harry questioned.

"Nevermind. You're here for the Council. They should be convening in a few minutes." Anderson extended his arm toward three objects along a wall. "You can reach them with these holo-terminals." Anderson spoke as he directed Harry to the holographic terminals in his office.

"I see. Ambassador, thanks for the warm welcome."

Anderson nodded his head, "Sure thing son." and with that he walked away.

After a few minutes, The terminals activated and the council shimmered into vision.

The blue woman in the middle spoke first, "Mr. Namarr, we would like to congratulate you on your successful effort in the re-capture mission."

"Although I appreciate you providing transport, I only took part because there were innocent people trapped on my ship. Those idiots are lucky we intervened before the Aura vented the drone bay." Grunted Harry.

"Yes, we have read the report sent in by Captain Ornaal." sneered the lizard to the right. "The report also had a casualty list, those that were lost when your ship attacked the Narool."

"Which is what concerns me." interrupted the Turian on the left, "While you were on-board the Narool your ship acted on it's own and engaged the Narool, using technologies we've never seen before to hamper our weapons, and disrupt our mass effect cores to leave vessels vulnerable to it's drones. Its also troubling that the drones can penetrate our shielding technology. The Narool was severely damaged before you seized control of your ship Mr. Namarr. How do you explain this!" The turian was obviously concerned and furious.

Harry found himself distracted at the lizard creature. Although the hologram was a bit fuzzy, the lizard was definitely interesting to look at. The lizard had a flat face with two prongs sticking upward from it's skull. They kinda resembled horns. Between the horns was a strip of orange flesh that stretched over from the front to the back of the skull. A flap on the front end of the strip vibrated as the being spoke, but the being had a large mouth and two large frog eyes on it's... face. Maybe the flap was used for breathing. Other than the V shaped face, the being was adorned with a colorful robe. Catching himself, Harry turned to the turian and said, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Your highly advanced ship nearly destroyed the Narool!" yelled the Turian, now quite furious.

Keeping his calm, Harry responded, "It was part of the plan. The Narool opened fire onto the Normandy SR9 first to grab Aura's attention. Once she was focused on the Narool, I took a shuttle to the Normandy SR9 to rescue the C-sec officers and to regain control of my ship. Along the way there were complications and I was forced to jump... err, use a manual override to regain control." Harry caught himself, he didn't want to reveal the existence of the capsule in his ship. Harry continued, "And as I know it the Narool has undergone repairs when it safely docked with the citadel, while the Normandy SR9 sits unattended with damaged armor." He was still trying to figure out how to repair the holes punched into his ship.

"So your ship was damaged." spoke the lizard in a form of a statement.

_Again with the lizard. _"I'm sorry, but what are you? I'd rather not call you a lizard all the time." asked Harry.

The lizard almost looked insulted. "My race is known as the Salarians, Mr. Namarr." answered the Salarian Councilor. "Now can we please continue?"

"Ah yes,... my damaged ship." Harry took a moment to recollect his thoughts. "Although my ship hampered the Narool's turret's tracking ability, some of the ship's turrets were able to hit the Normandy SR9 while she was performing evasive maneuvers. My ship isn't very agile, as you can tell from Togris' report." resentfully responded Harry. "According to my damage report, the Normandy SR9's armor plating was reduced to 87% effectiveness before the Narool ceased fire."

"And thankfully you pulled your drones away from the Narool," spoke the blue woman, "Otherwise we would be looking at a longer casualty list."

The Turian councilor was still aggravated, "You still haven't told us how your drones penetrated the Narool's shields."

Harry pondered for a bit before answering. "I don't know exactly, but I do have a hunch. Also listed on my damage report was data on the type of incoming damage my ship was experiencing. The Narool's turrets dealt damage in the form of kinetic blasts, and if my hunch is correct your shielding technology is designed around absorbing kinetic damage. Rather than firing metal slugs, my drones generate and then eject heated plasma at rapid velocity toward their target. Your shields would be unfamiliar with this type of damage and as a result, could not absorb it."

"Plasma weaponry... interesting" thought the Salarian Councilor out loud.

"Theres something I would like to know though." Spoke the blue woman, "Who is Aura?"

_Oh here we go again._ "Aura is an Artificial Intelligence." Harry paused to see what kind of reaction he would get. The Councilors shifted uncomfortably but remained silent to let Harry finish. Even Councilor Anderson stopped what he was doing and watched him. Regardless, Harry continued, "An Artificial Intelligence built to help pilots in my universe to fly their ships. She doesn't have complete control of my ship unless I grant her that ability." Harry finished.

"We know that you are new here, but you should know that we ban AI research here and with good reason." Advised the blue woman.

"Yes, your Csec chief Tereesa gave me a quick rundown of what happened." acknowledged Harry.

"If Aura cannot control your ship on it's own... how did it actively engage the Narool while you were onboard the Narool?" the Turian Councilor questioned.

Harry paused for a bit before speaking. "Before I left my ship I gave Aura temporary control to prevent your people from entering my ship. And you know what happened afterward."

"This is just perfect." Grumbled the Turian Councilor.

"How can we be sure that your AI won't leave the Citadel again?" questioned the Salarian Councilor.

"For starters I wouldn't send people over to my ship." answered Harry, leering at the Salarian. "There are secrets on that ship that I would like to keep secret."

"Secrets that we may need to ensure our security Mr. Namarr." Coolly spoke the blue woman.

Harry was visibly frustrated and turned to face Ambassador Anderson. "Please tell me we still have magicians practicing their trade." A shrug and a nod of the head from side to side gave Harry the answer. Turning back to the holographic terminals, Harry continued, "Ok, long, long time ago, we had people who were called magicians. They were illusionists, and used that illusion to entertain their audience. They keep the tricks to themselves. You know why? It's because if they spilled the beans on how to do their tricks, pretty soon everyone does those tricks. The magician's illusion is lost, and their out of a job!"

"And why can't we learn from your 'tricks'?" questioned the blue woman further.

Harry pulled himself back, then responded softly, "My tricks are what keep me alive in my universe. Trust is hard to come by, and for the few that we trust, we have a backup plan in case they betray that trust. Without my 'tricks', this magician is a dead magician." He deliberately failed to mention that death was only a minor inconvenience to his kind.

"Its evident that you do not trust us Mr. Namarr." Spoke the Salarian Councilor.

_You're damn right I don't!_, Thought Harry. From behind, he heard Anderson speak. "I wouldn't blame him. You didn't exactly give him a warm welcome."

"A necessary precaution we had to take, Ambassador." sneered the Turian Councilor.

"This meeting is getting sidetracked." Spoke the blue woman. "Do you have anything else you can tell us about the recapture mission?" The question was directed towards Harry.

After some thought, Harry spoke, "No madam councilor, I do not."

"Since there is nothing else to discuss, This meeting is adjourned." Reported the blue woman, and the holographic images faded from existence.

_Well, that went well_. Harry thought. He turned to head back to his ship before stopping at the door and turning to Ambassador Anderson. "Ambassador. Thanks for letting me use those terminals, and backing me up."

Anderson just looked up from his console, "It's not a problem son. Take care of yourself."

"Likewise Ambassador." spoke Harry, returning the gesture before setting off.

As he entered the dronebay, Harry noticed that one of his drones was active. _Alright... which idiot tried to..._ His thought was cut off after he noticed that the drone wasn't acting in hostility, but rather playfully. It was only then did he realize that he wasn't the only one in the drone bay. Petting the drone was a suited woman. Her body was covered from head to toe in her suit, granted it was a very colorful and beautiful suit, but still a suit never-the-less. There was a scarf that covered all of her helmet except for the front of her helmet. The front consisted of a window and a single light right where the mouth would be on her face. Sheets of metal curved around the window and bent toward the mouthpiece light. Also something of note, her legs were bent backward, and looked similar to those of canine legs. Other than that and the unique structure of her hands and feet consisting of 3 fingers and toes respectively, she too looked human. Noticing that she was not alone, she turned her gaze onto Harry, and he could feel her bright, piercing eyes watch him through the helmet.

"Eying me up?"

Harry averted his eyes and looked at the drone. The drone in turn turned to look at Harry. "Aura... Who is this?"

The dronebay's loudspeakers came alive. "She has failed to give a name, Pilot."

After a slight pause and having a confused look on his face, Harry spoke again,"Ok, why is she here?"

"I found her amusing to talk to." Aura simply answered, as the drone levitated a little higher and slightly rotated to the right.

_Of course you would._ Harry thought. "You didn't let her waltz through the front door did you?"

The suited woman spoke up, "Actually no, your AI wouldn't let me in."

Aura chimed in, "Her hacking attempts weren't that impressive, but they did tickle a bit."

The suited woman, now visibly embarrassed, eventually spoke, "I can explain."

About 30 minutes had passed and Harry is found pacing, occasionally looking up to the suited woman to speak. "So... you are a Quarian."

"I am." softly spoke the quarian.

Harry continued, "And your kind were the ones that created the synthetic race called the Geth."

The quarian looked down again, "It's not our proudest moment, but yes, we created the Geth."

"That explains your hacking abilities, but not your proposition." Harry questioned.

The Quarian let out a sigh and looked up at Harry. "Since the Geth drove us from our homeworld, we've been roaming the stars in our fleet of aging warships for 300 years. We've been able to maintain our ships over the centuries but sometimes we needed resources we just don't have." She paused for a bit before continuing. "Which is where you come in."

Harry stopped his pacing. "So you want me to ferry goods and commodities to your fleet to keep your fleet of rust-buckets running."

The quarian was genuinely insulted by Harry's remark. " Yes! So that what is left of our race isn't erased simply because of equipment failure! We have 17 million people on those 'rust-buckets'. Have a little sympathy!"

"How can I when you brought this onto yourselves." Harry cruelly spoke. After a moment of silence, Harry spoke in a softer tone, "Look, even if I wanted to help your people, I can't. My ship is crippled to the point where it now operates like an automobile. When she runs out of gas, everything shuts down."

The quarian chirped up, "Perhaps I can take a look at your problem, and come up with a solution."

Harry was very hesitant about the proposal. There was a strong possibility that letting just anyone into his ship would alter the current technological level these people had, if they took notes. Harry wanted to maintain an advanced technological edge to ensure his safety, but a repaired Capacitor Regeneration Unit was tempting to accept, especially since he's trapped here in an alternate universe. After giving some thought on the matter, he made his decision.

"I appreciate your offer ma'am. But since you've already tried to break into my ship I'm not sure if I could trust you."

The quarian, realizing that she wasn't going to get any data on the Normandy SR9, decided to try to persuade Harry through seduction. Before she could say another word though, Harry cut her off. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." As he said that, four other light drones activated and hovered to the first drone, facing toward the quarian and warming up their mounted turrets. Harry continued, "And I don't think you want me to ask you again."

The quarian froze in place, assessing her situation. After a minute, the quarian turned and began to walk back to her shuttle. As Harry began to relax, the quarian quickly turned 180 degrees with a pistol drawn. Her intent was never fulfilled though, as Aura recognized the action as aggressive toward the pilot and acted upon it. Before the barrel of the pistol got close to pointing directly at Harry's cranium, one of the light drones fired at the quarian. The plasma instantly pierced her personal shielding technology, and vaporized her body. The pistol and what was left of the quarian's extended arm fell to the floor.

After recovering from the shock, Harry thought to himself, _Bad call my dear_. He then turned to the drone that fired and complemented Aura on her quick reaction time.

"It's a shame really." spoke Aura as she put the drones back to sleep, "I really did enjoy her company."

"Even when she tried to hack into the ship and kill me?" questioned Harry.

"The hacking attempt was fun to block. The attempted murder, on the other hand, was the last straw." Aura remarked, "I'm surprised you even flinched."

"Yeah, well, something tells me I won't wake up again if I die here." Harry truthfully answered.

After Noticing the scorch mark on the floor, Harry made a mental note to clean that up later. But for now he has two new projects, and they both involved tinkering and learning about the pistol as well as the orange holographic tool that flickered around the severed limb.

It wasn't long before Harry was able to get the holographic tool, known as an omni-tool, to work on his arm. After he figured out how to purge the tool and reset it to factory default settings, the tool became his new toy for him to experiment with and tinker to his personal tastes. Using the omni-tool he was able to access what was called the Extra-net, a network that seemed to span across several worlds. Using the Extra-net, he learned more about the new universe he was in. He learned about the several different species that are known, such as; which were intelligent enough to be considered "Council Races", and which weren't intelligent enough to reach that rank. He also learned about the different cultures each race had to offer, from Asari grace to Krogan brutality. Finally he also learned about each races' types of weaponry, defensive technologies, and strategies. The strategies would prove useful in case he ever had to fight again.

All the while, Harry periodically deployed probes to scan the solar system he was in for anything unusual. He also didn't waste any time to find employment, and began working as a bartender at a local bar on the Citadel. Since he was cut off from his usual form of income and wallet, Harry had to have some form of currency available in case he needed it. For the most part, he did good work. Although he did have to discourage a few humans from trying the "Tuchunka Tummy Tingling Sauce". He quickly found out what happened when someone that isn't Krogan drank the stuff, and preferred not to recreate it. Harry was starting to develop a good reputation with the local populace, and things were starting to look up.

Even after his probes found an Unstable Wormhole in the solar system.


	7. Chapter 7

-Chapter 7-

Once again, Harry has found himself staring down a wobbling bubble in space. Even though he ran initial scans on the wormhole, he was unable to learn anything from it. His paranoia told him that something could have entered this system, causing the wormhole to form on this side. But then again, his paranoid self always assumed the worst. _The wormhole that brought me here was like this one as well, _Harry thought, _an "End of Life", Type Unknown wormhole. Maybe this is my ride back home. _Harry grinned after considering that possibility, but he had to be realistic. He wasn't sure how the first wormhole was able to bridge between realities, but to have the same phenomenon happen again within such a short time-span? Something didn't feel quite right.

On the bright side, he didn't have much trouble convincing the council to let him depart on his voyage of discovery. In truth though, he didn't speak with them on the matter. They just know that once again, the golden ship has left on it's own. Until they figure out how to magnetically lock the Normandy SR9 to the docking hanger, Harry can technically leave whenever he wishes. And he doubted that they would try to keep his ship docked within the Citadel by force, not since the Normandy SR9 wrecked the Narool, and that was just with Aura behind the wheel. _Besides,_ Harry thought, _The Turian councilor would probably be pleased about my departure_.

Harry ran a Diagnostic scan on the Normandy SR9 once more to check to see if everything was in order, minus the fried shield systems and the damaged Capacitor Regeneration Unit. Other than those two issues, the fact that the ship's armor was at 87% effectiveness, and the limited amount of Capacitor Booster Charges available in the ship's cargo-hold, everything else was performing smoothly and all the drones in the drone-bay were accounted for. The Normandy SR9 was about as ready as she could be given her current condition. "It'll have to do," Harry grumbled to himself as he engaged the thrusters and entered the wormhole.

The transition from one system to another was relatively seamless. Unlike the last wormhole, the Normandy SR9 wasn't tossed about violently or struck by lightning. The ride was calm, like a gondola traversing through the canals of Italy, minus the singing gondolier. Like hundreds of systems before this one, Harry checked for a local communication buoy and then later deployed probes after he was unable to find such a buoy. To his dismay, his probes didn't find anything of relevance either, not even a single star. _That can't be right_. Harry thought, _Usually these wormholes formed in a solar system._ Harry then took a look outside, _But all that I can see in this dim light are these asteroids... wait, _He caught himself, _Dim light?_

"Aura, are we still in or relatively near the Milky Way galaxy?" Harry asked.

The navigational computer kicked on again and searched for the Normandy SR9's current location. Once complete, Aura reported it's findings. "According to our local star charts, We are located outside of the Milky Way galaxy. Beyond that, I cannot determine our exact location."

"Then we haven't returned home." Harry grumbled to himself. "I thought as much, the ride through the wormhole was too easy."

Normally if he was as lost as he was right now, Harry would've taken the "Pod – Express" back home. The process included the self-destruction of his ship as well as his capsule, which was the best way to eliminate the evidence of his presence. There would be a smoldering wreck leftover from his ship, but in time the wreck would eventually break apart and disintegrate. Meanwhile, Harry's consciousness would instantly be transmitted at the moment of his "Death" to his medical clone back home. The process wasn't the cheapest since he had to pay for another medical clone afterward, but it was the fastest. Unfortunately, Harry was unsure if his consciousness would be transmitted at all in this alternate universe. Rather than take the potentially fatal risk, Harry chose to try to find his way back home. Besides, he enjoyed a good challenge. Although there have been times where he wished he had a pair of red, sparkling slippers. He almost began to chant "Theres no place like home," at the thought.

Pulling himself from his musings, Harry spoke to Aura, "Well while we're here we might as well check out these asteroids. There may be something of value that we can bring back. Might as well make this trip a profitable one."

"As you wish" responded Aura, as Harry maneuvered the Normandy SR9 through the asteroid belt, running scans on each one.

After scanning a few asteroids, he noticed something. The Normandy SR9 sensors revealed that the asteroids were almost completely metallic in nature. It seemed like that there wasn't a trace of carbon on these asteroids, but then again its difficult to scan an asteroid without proper equipment, namely a survey scanner. While moving further away from the wormhole, Harry also noticed another oddity, an oddity that puzzled him.

"Aura, can you run a diagnostic scan on the sensor array again? Why do all of these asteroids look like squids?" questioned Harry.

Not amused, Aura reminded Harry that he ran a full diagnostic scan before they entered the wormhole. "Even after we entered this new system, I did not detect any malfunctions in the ship's systems." bluntly answered Aura.

"So they all do look like squids then." slowly spoke Harry, trying to formulate an explanation. "Maybe they're statues, or relics left behind long ago." verbally thought Harry.

"That is a possibility... but why are these structures here and not somewhere within the nearby galaxy? There is no evidence of a planet or even a star here. The only things here are these structures." contemplated Aura.

"Drift maybe?" questioned Harry. "Maybe they were built at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy and then just drifted away."

"Possibly." agreed Aura, "But these structures are too large to be collected and transported back through the wormhole."

"Maybe we can use the drones to break off a chunk to take back with us." concluded Harry.

Before Harry could send commands to his drones though, Aura alerted him of movement off the starboard bow. He pulled up the camera feed on one of the monitors and witnessed a statue come alive. Lights flickered on as the statue creaked and crackled as it's limbs began to move. The statue let out a feral scream before it quickly advanced toward the Normandy SR9. As it maneuvered behind the Normandy, a plate over it's body separated into 4 different segments, each pulling back to reveal a hole in the center. A red ball began to glow in that hole as energy was built up before being expelled as a beam toward the Normandy SR9. "Brace for Impact!" Harry instinctively yelled as he attempted to counter the attack. The Normandy SR9 was still achieving target lock onto the statue when the beam collided with the ship's hull.

"Damage Report!" commanded Harry.

"Armor effectiveness reduced to 74%. Incoming damage is type electromagnetic. I cannot recommend remaining here for long Pilot." Reported Aura.

_EM damage... well there's some good news_, Thought Harry, _The ship's armor is quite resilient against that kind of damage._

"Agreed!" answered Harry as he began evasive maneuvers, activating the afterburner for additional speed in the process. He also applied the tracking disruptor onto the statue after finally achieving target lock. When the statue got close enough Harry instinctively activated the energy neutralizers. He wasn't sure if these statues had mass effect cores, or if the neutralizers would even affect these things, but when you're being attacked there's no time to think, you just react. Meanwhile, the statue fired off another bolt of energy toward the Normandy SR9, hitting the vessel with full force. Harry was thrown left as the Normandy SR9 was hit.

"Armor effectiveness reduced to 61%. The tracking disruptor is proving to be ineffective, Pilot." reported Aura.

"Yeah tell me something I don't know!" remarked Harry.

"Very well, I've detected more movement coming from the other 'asteroids'. They are likely reinforcements." reported Aura.

Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, Harry decided to flee. He pulled the Normandy SR9 around a dormant statue and started burning back to the wormhole. The first statue followed the Normandy around the dormant statue and pursued the vessel, followed by three other statues similar in size and two other statues that about doubled their size. As the larger statues punished the Normandy SR9's armor, Harry pulled away in an attempt to get out of their firing range. He managed to get out of range, but at a price. The Normandy SR9's armor effectiveness was reduced to 15%, and Harry still had to travel 30 kilometers before reaching the wormhole. He was unable to shake off the four smaller statues and beams of red light slammed into the Normandy SR9's structure. Harry was launched forward into his bench as one of the beams penetrated the ship's armor. Sparks flew in the bridge as the Normandy was hit.

"Armor effectiveness reduced to 0%. Warning! Hull Breach! Damage Control module activated." reported Aura.

He didn't have much time, three more hits and the Normandy SR9 would fall apart under fire. Harry launched five Vespa class Electronic Counter Measure drones and assigned one drone per statue. He assigned the other two to the closest statue. While the drones were attempting to jam the statues by transmitting garbage data to their targets, Harry overloaded the afterburner and disabled the energy neutralizers, making the Normandy SR9 fly even faster than before as it raced toward the wormhole.

20 kilometers.

Another beam slammed into the Normandy SR9. The damage inflicted was reduced though, as not all the statues fired in unison. Some of the ECM drones were able to jam the pursuing statues.

"Hull integrity 65%. Harry you must get into the pod." recommended Aura.

"NO! Theres no time! I need to be here" Harry was fairly certain that in the time it would take him to get into the capsule, the Normandy SR9 would be destroyed. He felt that he had a better chance of escaping by being where he was, piloting the Normandy SR9 from the bridge. _Come no baby, hold together. We're almost there._ Harry thought to himself.

The Normandy's capacitor was running low and in response Harry activated the capacitor booster, expelling a capacitor charge into the capacitor and rejuvenating it. Meanwhile, Aura warned Harry about the heat built up in the afterburner. It was running the risk of burning itself out. Harry knew of this, and was content on letting it happen, they were so close to entering the wormhole. The bridge rocked right and sparks flew once more as the Normandy SR9 was hit once again.

"DANGER! DANGER! Hull Integrity Critical. EVACUATE, EVACUATE" screamed Aura.

"Can it Aura! Keep an eye on the afterburner, let me know when it burns out!" Commanded Harry.

He was nervous. He could tell by the beads of sweat rolling down his face. Harry faced death several times before without showing a sign of emotion. Back then he was confident that he would wake up in his medical clone. But now, he wasn't as confident. He could really die out here and no one would know.

7 Kilometers.

_No, I will survive, I have to survive! I won't go down like this!_

There was an explosion, Harry thought this was the end, but was proven wrong when Aura announced that the afterburner finally burned itself out. "Damn it!" cried Harry, "I still need that!" He watched the bow camera feed with horror as he saw one of the statues prime for the fatal blow that would destroy the Normandy SR9. Time seemed to slow down for him, as his body prepared for death to take him.

But then his stomach lurched. He was so attached to the bow camera feed that he failed to look at what was in front of him. The momentum from the overloaded afterburner carried the Normandy SR9 far enough that the ship was sucked into the wormhole. The bow camera feed went static as they transitioned into another solar system and then showed the wobbling wormhole as the ship emerged back into Citadel space. Burning... Scorched... and about to fall to pieces; The mess that was the Normandy SR9 drifted to a halt as it's momentum carried it further away from the wormhole, leaving a trail of fire behind it. Harry still watched the camera feed though, anticipating one of the statues to enter the wormhole to finish him off. Instead, the wormhole silently collapsed within itself and was no more.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. His whole body was quivering as the adrenaline rush still pumped through his veins. He patted the bench that he was at, saying, "That'll do girl, That'll do." Suddenly there was an explosion and something smacked Harry's cranium.

His body went limp, and as he fell to the floor everything around him faded to black. There was no time to scream, or to fight back. Knowing this, Harry just accepted his fate.


End file.
